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"The War" is a melodic post-hardcore number that has typically mordant and Mouldy lyrics about feeling anxious in the wake of a fight, as well as a charging riff perfect for Hawkins' cymbal crashes. Mould uses the instrumental break to undulate about the stage as if he were fighting with his guitar, before things simmer down to an almost folkish outro.

The punkish, charging "Hey Mr. Grey" is the Beauty & Ruin track that best shows off Mould's self-deprecating wit, as he sings one liners like, "Hey Mr. Grey, that's what the children say/ Life used to be so hard, get off my yard." He also comes up with lines about Mr. Blue and Mr. White, as Hawkins bashes out sprightly rhythms behind him. "That was a cute song, coming up with that first verse and then having somewhere to go with it in a very short amount of time," Mould told Rolling Stone earlier this year. "It became this silly nursery rhyme. The colors work for two minutes."

The songs come from a personal record for Mould – who wrote it after his father died – but by and large, he told Rolling Stone that Beauty & Ruin was par for the course. "Sharing personal stuff, that's what I do," he said. "I think that's what people expect. If I'd written bubblegum pop for 25 years and then I made a deeply personal record and regretted it, that would be one thing. This is just what I do. I don't even think about it."